Do you think this poem should be banned?

[toolly]

Here it is www.sumption.org/2006/05/23/education-for-leisure
An invigilator things it glorifies knife crime. I think rather than watching people taking exams she should take some because this poem in no way glamorises street violence.

god I think that poem is great .. a pure study in psychosis and fear

I think the invigilator is an ass

Banning literature? Police state here we come.

And no, I don't think it glorifies knife crime.

Love both the poems. Good to see someone sticking it to ignorant-power-gone-mad-authority!

I like her ever since

having poems banned is, at best, silly

should have read ever since the one about princess Di death

Surely the whole point of studying literature is to study a huge range of poems, good and bad, nice and not so nice, flowery and violent?

Or should they just be studying 'good' poems and all agreeing that yes, they are good?

Kids need to have the opportunities for critical appreciiation.

I'm not a big Duffy fan but I think that's quite good. It communicates that knife crime is not glamorous IMO, why would you ban it?

Agree wholeheartedly with those who say the invigilator doesn't seem very bright - she clearly doesn't have a clue what the original poem is about anyway, and her response to Duffy's riposte is priceless! I think the second poem is fantastic - thanks for this thread, toolly, because I am now going to use the poems and the newspaper article as the starting point for a discussion on censorship with Yr 11 - in which I suspect Mrs Schofield will not come out well, since, as others have said, the original poem does anything but glorify knife crime. And teenagers are always spot on in their understanding of poems like this. Fantastic stuff.

But how ridiculous to try to prevent young people from talking about and engaging with a topic which is so close to home right now? What an utterly ridiculous woman.

I think that's a good poem for secondary children to study. She's making a close connection between torturing animals and being a psychopath (layman speaking) which research has shown exists.

What I really hope happens is that all the English teachers out there instantly decide to teach it anyway! I wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't seen this thread, so it's already reaching a wider audience than it would have done had the fuss not been made. You have to love the irony.

Well done Mss Schofield!
Much better for adolescents would be To His Coy Mistress - or 'how to co-erce your unwillinggirlfriend to have sex by mean of emotional blackmail focussing on how she will be riddled with worms' ..or Leda and the Swan - rape by a swan apealing to the British love of animals...and lets have a Sylvia Plath revival - suicide is a popular subject with overwrought teenagers.

I really fear for education in this climate, I really do.

Wasn't Adrian Mitchell banned or struck off the curriculum a few years ago?

Totally off the subject of Duffy - but since there appear to be so many English teachers on this thread, does anybody have any amazingly good ideas of things to do with "Romeo And Juliet"? I have taught it soooooo many times and am soooooo bored of it and need to inspire my gorgeous Year Nine class.

Or should I just tell them it's been banned due to its glorification of under-age sex and suicide?

What's really depressing is not that there is this particularly thick woman invigilating exams but that the exam board withdrew the poem. What a craven attitude. Renders them unfit to make ANY decisions about what children should be taught IMO.

I agree, Edam.
It's shameful.

I mean the silly woman said she didn't understand either the original poem or Duffy's response....why pander?

I seriously doult that an exam invigilator would have any input whether a poem was included. Like any individual she has a right to her opinons though. I think its unfair to describe her as thick because she doesn't like the poem.

Most exam invigilators couldn't care less what is in a paper. They do the job for the money and when I did it I quite enjoyed helping the kids at a stressful time in their lives.

The only exams I had objection to were when the exam board had cock ups like not including half the paper. For example a humanites paper which had a comprehension section, but the exam board had forgotten to give the kids a print out of the passage! The marks were adjusted and the kids got the grades they deserved, but what a horrible experience.

Undoultedly its was an examiner's view that affected the exam board's decision to include it. Exam invigilators are small fry.

janeite - I'm guessing you will have thought of this already but one of the best things I've done with R&J is to explore the Baz Luhrmann film in a 'how effective is this as an interpretation of the text?' way. However, if you're teaching it for SATs that might not be terribly helpful!

Thanks - yes, done that before. The problem is I've taught it so many times that I think I'm just bored with everything about it.

I do sympathise. For some reason, I could teach Macbeth year after year and not lose interest but I'm really not a fan of R&J. It's so wordy! I get really bored at the end...Fortunately I haven't taught it for SATs for yrs so just cherry pick my favourite bits (Mercutio usually) and miss out the dull stuff.

It's very important to explore all human emotions including dark ones. Poetry is an excellent medium through which to do this and I feel this poem is very good.

No it shouldn't. Listened to her on R4 this morning. She seemed a totally unimaginative Gradgringy sort of soul.

janeite - I wrote a scheme of work on R&J looking at Act1 scene 3 (party scene in particular) which gets pupils to create their own interpretation of the scene, with reference to the language, etc. but which uses "I bet you look on the dancefloor" as a stimulus. I'm still doing it for GCSE tis year; we have chosen to do the Tempest for SATs. Im a big believer in engaging the pupils and making it relevant and good fun, and the SATs prep can take a back seat until right at the end of the unit. You'd be welcome to have a copy and butcher it as you see fit!

As for the banning of the Duffy poem - it's all a bit Mike Read and "Relax" for my liking, i.e. stinks of an ignoramus and has totally missed the point. I always include reference to Mark Chapman and the killing of John Lennon when I teach that and we discuss the tragedy of people who have failed and been failed by society seeking notoriety by using destruction and violence rather than making their mark through intelligence, talent and love.

I'm still going to teach it even if it's not in the exam as the themes are so relevant (esp when compared with the other poems already mentioned). It's outrageous that this has happened.

JUst read the bbc link -seemingly we will be forced to ban it as all anthologies will be destroyed and new ones sent to all schools. What a colossal and disgraceful waste of paper, resources and money. The anthologies contain hundreds of texts and they are being destroyed for just this one poem??

What's wrong with just teling us not to teach it? (ignoring my rubbish attempt to be a rebel in my last poem, of course)

and was also wondering... will this hinder Carol Ann Duffy's chances of becoming poet laureate at some point in the future? her name's often mentioned in this context

Schools are not being asked to destroy copies; the current Yr 11 will be able to write about it in the exam. It just won't appear in future editions of the anthology. Still bloomin stupid though!

Moomin - thanks for the offer. I'm not really looking for Schemes of work; just fun ideas that go beyond the text a bit. I love the "Bet That You Look Good On The Dance Floor" idea though and will pinch that if that's ok.

Am going to get them to create character boxes, where they choose a character and fill a shoe box with items to represent said character - this will be an on-going Homework task I think so that they can add things as we read and then later in the term I'll get them to do a "Show and tell" about their boxes.

Will do various drama activities too but just can't muster up any enthusiasm really. I agree that "Macbeth" is a whole different ballgame - I love teaching that and can't see myself ever being bored with it, even after doing it most years for 16 years!